Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
B ex was immediately whisked away by Wilder’s sisters-in-law the second they stepped foot into Harper’s Bar. The Faulkner family, who included Olivia’s largest client, shipping billionaire Ryker Faulkner, were all in attendance. Maggie was happily introducing Bex to all of the Faulkners and their wives as Ryker gave Wilder a nod of hello.
The Townsend men were sitting at the table next to the Faulkners. Wilder greeted them all as he took his seat. Wilder kept his eye on Bex as she smiled up at Gator before being introduced to Skeeter and Turtle.
“Maggie has her. You can stop being a nervous wreck,” Hunter said, teasing him.
“At least he knows what he has and isn’t a dumbass who kept putting his foot in his mouth over and over and over again,” Forrest replied as Wilder and his brothers snickered. Hunter had made a mess of his relationship with Maggie until she literally ended it with a bullet between the eyes of a bad guy. Then Hunter fell head over heels for the sharpshooter after opening his eyes to who Maggie really was.
Hunter glared at Forrest. “When are you going to the Amazon and giving us some peace?”
Forrest ignored him as Rowan double-checked that Forrest had all of his shots for the trip coming up in a couple of months. Damon was about to turn his attention to Wilder when Wilder’s phone rang and Bryce’s name popped up on the screen.
“Hey, Bryce,” Wilder answered as his brothers lowered their bickering to a whisper and hand gestures so Wilder could hear. “Everything okay?”
“Sorry, Wilder. I discovered we had a break-in when I got to the club this afternoon.”
“Was anything taken or destroyed?” Wilder focused solely on Bryce but appreciated that both his family and the Faulkners stopped talking so that Wilder could hear better.
“Yeah, there was damage. Our liquor was all smashed and the place was trashed. They also got into your office. They broke your desk and threw the chair through the window onto the dance floor.”
“My files?” Wilder asked.
“They’re secure. Your safe too.”
“How did they manage to get by our security? Did you call the police?” Wilder noticed his family and even the Faulkners not only quieted down but were leaning forward to hear better.
“They had masks. I couldn’t pull a single photo off the security cameras. For some reason the alarm didn’t go off. Probably because they seemed to know the codes. That’s why I called you first. If you tell me to call the police, then I will.”
Wilder frowned as he thought about what to do.
Ryker Faulkner leaned forward with a frown. “What happened?”
“The club was broken into and they had the codes for the doors.”
“Someone hacked your security system or you have an insider turning over your codes,” Ryker told him as he pulled out his phone. “I’ll send my guy. He’ll do security for you.”
“I have more cameras than you can imagine,” Wilder said with a sigh.
“Yeah, but if they’ve been hacked or someone sold you out, then my guy will catch them. I’m taking care of it.” Ryker paused and nodded at his phone. “Done. They’ll be up and running before tonight if you’re planning on trying to open.”
“I was hoping to,” Wilder said and Bryce jumped in letting them know the liquor would be replaced within the hour and they’d already called the glass company to fix Wilder’s window overlooking the dance floor.
“They’ll be there in the next two hours. Don’t call the police yet,” Ryker told them. “Let’s have them take a look around first.”
Wilder and Bryce talked about what else to do and how to cut the security feed from now until opening in case it had been hacked so that they couldn’t see the new security team coming into the club. By the time Wilder hung up with Bryce, the night already seemed long and it was still just the afternoon.
“Thanks, Ryker. I appreciate it.” They’d all thought Ryker was taking advantage of Olivia. It was the reason they’d moved to Shadows Landing. Instead, he was a no-nonsense client but he was also a loyal friend. Somehow the Townsends and Ryker had reached a mutual respect for each other and Wilder was glad of it.
Ryker grunted. That was the closest he’d get to a you’re welcome.
“You want me to call my guys?” Damon asked.
“Not yet. I’ll let you know when I reach that level. Thanks, bro.” Wilder ran his hand over his face and glanced over at Bex gushing to Skye Jessamine Faulkner, America’s Sweetheart, who was Wilder’s neighbor. The Hollywood starlet had fallen in love with Trent Faulkner, who made beautiful furniture, some of which was in Wilder’s new house, and moved to Shadows Landing when she wasn’t making blockbuster movies.
Bex was happy and he wasn’t going to ruin the fun she was having by bringing the troubles back in New York into the night. Instead, he stood up and joined Bex and the women she was with. He didn’t want to stay away anymore. He didn’t know how long it would take to clear their names but he wanted to spend every moment of it with Bex.
Wilder had his arm around Bex as the entire bar was on the edge of their seats. The point guard for Moultrie State University ran the final play of the game with five seconds left. They were down by one. Four seconds ticked down from the timer’s clock. Three seconds. The ball was passed to Quad. The entire bar sucked in a breath as they jumped up from their seats, eyes glued to the giant television. Two. Quad put down a dribble as he charged into the paint. One. Quad faked to the right and when the defender jumped to block him, Quad leaned to the left as he jumped into the air. The ball left his hand. The buzzer sounded. No one breathed as the ball arced through the air. In the silence of the bar the swish of the ball hitting nothing but the net echoed for only a split second before the entire bar shouted in celebration.
MSU’s basketball team emptied the bench. The student section went nuts waving giant head posters of Quad and the other MSU players. Quad ran between the cheerleaders as the camera panned to Waverly’s sister, Lark, right as Quad wrapped her up in a hug.
“He better watch that hand. It’s getting a little low,” Damon growled.
“He kissed her the other night at dinner right in front of me,” Kane, Lark’s soon-to-be brother-in-law, complained.
“Yeah, we definitely need to have another talk with him.” Hunter linked his fingers together and cracked them.
Waverly rolled her eyes, but she watched Quad and Lark hug with her hands pressed to her heart and a smile on her face. “They are so cute together,” Bex said, slipping her hand around Wilder’s arm. Damned if Wilder didn’t understand that sappy and incredibly proud look on Quad’s face. Wilder didn’t need a mirror to know he was looking the exact same way at Bex as he pulled her to his side and placed a kiss on her forehead.
The vibration in his pocket interrupted any idea of moving the kiss to her lips. “It’s a video call from Bryce.” Wilder nodded to the door and Bex immediately followed him to the street. “What’s going on, Bryce?”
“There’s someone here who says her name is Bridget. She has three police-type dogs with her and her son who’s named after a salad. He said his name is Kale and that you sent them to do security. He’s a scary-ass dude when he glares. What do you want me to do?”
“A friend of mine sent them to help us. Will you put me on video?” Wilder asked as Bex came to stand by his shoulder so she could see the video too. Wilder muted the call and quickly gave Bex the rundown on the break-in.
The camera turned on as Bryce explained what he was doing to Bridget and Kale. Wilder caught sight of the dark-haired man who looked to be Wilder’s age with a serious expression and a lot of muscle. The woman looked to be his opposite except for the bright blue eyes. She was older and wore a kind smile with her blondish hair pulled back in a ponytail.
“Hi, I’m Kale’s mom, Bridget. I hope you don’t mind me tagging along, but after what Kale told me what happened, I thought you might want me here too.”
Wilder frowned with confusion. Why would he want someone’s mom there? “And why’s that?” Wilder asked.
“Mom trains military and police dogs. She was here for the United Nations meeting on the treatment of military dogs during war,” Kale explained. “When Ryker gave me the rundown of events, he said nothing was taken, only destroyed. That got me thinking: what if the object of the break-in wasn’t to steal but to plant? You think it’s the DA behind this, right?”
Bex was nodding beside Wilder. “What better way to prove Wilder is guilty than to plant evidence against him? When the club calls the police to report the break-in, they just happen to stumble across evidence damming Wilder and probably me, too.”
Kale nodded and Bridget smiled. “Exactly Detective Moretti,” Kale answered.
“How did you know my name?” Bex asked, and Wilder could feel her stiffen up next to him.
“I only help the good guys. To make sure you were a good guy, I looked into what Ryker told me. This smells of corruption. Can we go in now?”
“Bryce, give them full access to the club,” Wilder told him. “And let me watch so we can figure out where cameras and such are going.”
“I’m doing more than cameras. I’ll also hack your system myself so I can find out if someone did the same and plant a tracker. That way if they break in again, I can find them.” Kale set his things on the newly stocked bar and pulled out a laptop.
“Bryce is it?” Bridget asked. “Hold this.” She shoved two dog leashes into his hands. “This is Rex,” Bridget said into the camera. He’s a cadaver dog. Then there’s Cruise, he’s a drug dog. Finally, there’s Angel. She’s a weapons dog.”
Bex was nodding. “Great. The dogs can search the building way faster than humans. Thank you, Bridget.”
Bridget smiled, spoke in some foreign language to Rex, and the dog began to sniff as he moved around the building.
“Okay, so what I’ve done,” Kale said a moment later, “is hacked into the existing security system and put a loop in. It looks as if you’re shut down for right now. That way it lets me put up my additional security without anyone getting suspicious. I’ve also added my own tracer so I’ll see everyone who logs in. Let me tell you, there’s a lot of backdoors in their system. My niece isn’t even a year old and she could hack this system. Not very good for a security firm who manages all these clubs.”
Bridget popped back up on the screen as she handed the leash to Bryce and took another dog. “So, good news. No dead bodies. Now, let’s see if you have any weapons in this place.” Bex chuckled next to him as they watched Bridget work her dog from the front door to the main dance floor. She moved the dog to behind the bar and they lost sight of Angel until they heard the bark. “Oh, hello.” Bridget ducked down a second later and stood up with a gun in her gloved hand. “Do you normally keep a gun behind the bar?”
Wilder’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. “No. We have no weapons in the building. They’re not allowed. Even security only has tasers.”
Bridget placed the gun on the counter and finished the sweep. Twenty minutes later she came back with two more guns. “This one was in your office and the other was in the storage room near the back door.” Bridget shoved the leash to Bryce and took the last leash. “Come on, Cruise. Let’s see if we can find some drugs.”
Kale came back from where he was installing new security and looked the guns over. “They’re all illegal, I can tell you that.” Kale pulled out some evidence bags and placed the guns in them before placing them in a black duffle bag with a bright yellow crest and writing on it. However, Wilder couldn’t tell what it was before Bryce moved the camera to follow Bridget when Cruise barked and sat.
“Looks like we have drugs.” Bridget disappeared behind the bar again. It took some digging, but then she stood back up with a bag of pills. Cruise barked and sat again at the other end of the bar and once again, Bridget came up with a baggie of drugs. “My guess is they’re all over the place. This search might take me a while.”
“While Mom finishes that, let me show you what I’ve done.” Kale sent Wilder a text. “That’s the link to all the live feeds I have up and going.”
Wilder tapped the link and Bex let out a whistle. “How did you get so many cameras up so quickly?” Bex asked. The video feed covered every inch of the nightclub, even storage rooms and now several in Wilder’s office.
“I’m good at what I do,” Kale answered as his face came back on the screen of Wilder’s phone.
Twenty minutes later, Bridget came back with an impressive number of drugs. “Got them all. They were hidden in the men’s room, every storage room, the DJ booth, the VIP bar, and every office. It’s very clear someone is trying to set you up.”
“We’ll bag it all and run it and send you any leads we get,” Kale said, placing all the drugs into the duffle bag, along with his computer before zipping it closed and attaching a lock.
Suddenly all their heads turned to the front door as someone pounded on it. “Police! Open up or we’ll break the door down.”
“Told you it was a setup,” Bridget said with a smirk.
“Open the door, Bryce,” Kale told Wilder’s manager. He didn’t seem nervous at all as he slipped the duffle bag over his shoulder.
Wilder minimized Bryce’s video call since he slid the phone into his front pocket and Wilder opened the link to all the live feeds from Kale. Bex leaned forward. “There’s one of the assistant DA’s and that’s my captain, Sean Kilpatrick. Some of the officers are from my department. Those two are from the DA’s investigative branch,” Bex told him as she pointed out people on the front door camera feed.
They watched as Bryce opened the door and the stream of police officers stormed in. “We have a search warrant,” the assistant DA said, shoving a paper at Bryce. They paused when they saw Bridget and her dogs and Kale. “Who are you? What’s in the bag?”
The assistant DA nodded to Sean and Sean went to touch the bag. Bridget whispered something and all three dogs began to growl.
“You can’t touch that,” Kale said, straightening to his full height.
“I can do whatever the hell I want,” Bex’s captain responded.
“My diplomatic immunity from the country of Rahmi says otherwise.” Kale crossed his arms over his chest. “And that is clearly labeled as a diplomatic bag and is also unable to be touched.”
“Why would a diplomat be here?” the assistant DA asked.
“Why would a diplomat tell an assistant anything that’s obviously above his paygrade?” Ouch. Kale was not intimidated.
“Who are you?” Bridget was then asked.
“I’m his mom. It’s so nice to meet you.” The police dog they’d brought in was actually wiggling, not barking. Bridget spoke quickly in a foreign language and the dog yanked free from the handler and jumped up into Bridget’s arms, kissing her face. “Oh, yes, sweetie. I’ve missed you too. You’re such a good girl.” Bridget looked around at the handler who was suddenly looking uncomfortable. “Hello, Officer Browning. How is my sweet girl doing?”
“Very well, ma’am. Thank you for all your training. She’s had the top number of drug busts out of all the dogs in the NYPD this year,” the officer said proudly.
“You know her?” Sean asked, his pale skin turning red.
“We all do. That’s Bridget Mueez. She’s supplied the last three dogs to the NYPD and you all are on the waitlist to get into her husband’s military and law enforcement training facility in Keeneston, Kentucky,” Officer Browning answered as if it was clear who they were.
Sean instantly apologized even as the assistant DA was blustering. “We have a warrant!” he finally managed to say.
“Then search,” Bridget said as she leaned against the bar and watched the dog she’d trained search the building. Olivia and Granger strode in and took control of the search as police officers joined in. Olivia worked her magic and kept them from destroying the main parts of the property. Olivia kept on reminding them of legal issues they were facing should they damage any property.
An hour later the police left empty-handed.
Olivia had hugged Bridget and shaken hands with Kale as they’d stood watching the search. Then Bridget and Kale departed with his diplomatic bag full of planted drugs and guns. Olivia grabbed Bryce’s phone and smiled. “See you soon, bro. Thanks for the good time in the city.”
“Doors open in an hour. It’ll be ready by then, boss,” Bryce promised before hanging up as Hardy and Tiny gave him a wave from the background and promised to be extra observant.
Wilder and Bex finally took a deep breath. “I survived another day it seems. I can’t do this anymore,” Wilder said. “I can’t sit back and watch them come after everything I worked so hard for. I hate to do it, but if they want to fight dirty, then we’ll fight dirty.”
“What are you going to do?” Bex asked as Wilder scrolled through his phone.
“I’m going to make a deal with someone I swore never to work with.”